


The memories aren't always right

by JenJo



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Scene, Canon Divergence - Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Spoilers, Gen, How it could have been
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-08
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-06-07 02:43:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6782149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenJo/pseuds/JenJo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Slight spoilers for CA:CW)</p>
<p>Steve find the apartment Bucky has been using, and reads the notebook.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The memories aren't always right

**Author's Note:**

> A slight tweak to the scene in CA:CW, showing a bit more depth.

The door that Steve opens is identical to the others that he has passed in the building; completely inconspicuous. No one would give it a second glance. The perfect hiding spot.

Inside the apartment was the complete opposite; anyone who entered would have been immediately suspicious. The newspaper on the windows could be explained away, but not the lack of furniture. The place was lacking the lived-in feel.

Steve set the shield onto his back, and looked in the fridge; no perishables, one carton of juice. Hardly enough to sustain a person, but not going to cause a smell if the power were to go out.

Turning around, Steve’s eyes were drawn to a book on the counter. He picked it up, and opened it to the middle.

_‘12 years old?,_ the writing reads. The writing was messy, like the writer wanted to get the words out before they were forgotten.   _‘Steve picked a fight with…_ ~~ _John? Joshua?_~~ _Brown hair,_ ~~ _brown_~~ _blue_ _eyes. Fight was over… food, maybe. Steve dropped to the ground, landing on his knees._ ~~ _John/Joshua_~~ _ran away when he saw Bucky. Bucky ran over, and picked up Steve. Steve wasn’t touched, but he did trip over his own shoes…’_

The writing trailed off, and left three lines blank.

~~_ ‘ _ _ His shoes were always too big for him.’ _ ~~

Steve blinked at the writing, before shaking his head. “We were eleven, not twelve,” he told the book, tracing over the writing. “And I definitely didn’t trip. Jake pushed me over.”

“Sometimes they get mixed up.”

Steve dropped the book, hand going to the shield as he turned around at the voice. Bucky stood there, having stepped out of the shadows. He waved a hand around his head, brows furrowed in concern. Bucky’s voice was deeper than Steve remembered, and sounded rough from disuse. “The memories. Sometimes they’re clear, and make sense. But others just…  _ don’t _ . I write them all down, no matter how painful. Some are mine, some are Bucky’s. Some are both, some neither. It’s all… a giant cloud of mess, is the best way I can describe it.”

Steve dropped his hand to his side, and loosened his stance, aiming for non-threatening. “You know who I am?”

Bucky tilted his head to the side. “You’re Steve. But not the Steve from the book.” Bucky gestured towards the book. “That Steve was… different.”

Steve laughed. “Yeah, I was. And do you know who you are?”

Bucky offered Steve an assessing look, eyes flicking to the door as he did. “No. I’m not Bucky, not the one in the book. Guess we’ve both changed since then.”

“Yeah, we have.”

“How’d you find me?”

Steve looked out the window, before looking back at Bucky. “There’s people coming after you. They think that you killed a lot of people yesterday.”

Bucky shook his head, turning to the side. “I don’t do that anymore.”

“I know,” Steve took a step forward, but stopped when Bucky took a step back. “But they are coming.”

_ “You’ve got two minutes,”  _ Sam’s voice in his ear provided. Bucky’s eyes widened; he had heard Sam.

“You heard that?” Bucky nodded. “We’ve got to go.”

Bucky looked at Steve. “Why are you here?”

“I want to help.”

Bucky shook his head, walking closer to Steve. “You can’t. I’m better off on my own.”

Steve took hold of Bucky’s shoulders, looking into his eyes. “No. We’re better off together.”

Bucky shook his head, shrugging off Steve’s hands. “No. I’ve… I can do this. I have been. Alone. Since…” Bucky looked down at his feet, before looking back at Steve. “DC?”

Steve nodded. “Yeah, DC.”

_ “One minute Cap.” _

Bucky’s eyes went to the door, widening as they did. “Go; I’ll give you a head start.”

Steve shook his head. “No. You can do this alone, but you don’t have to. I’m with you ‘til the end of the line.”

Bucky looked at Steve, recognition on his face. “I said that to you. I remember.”

Steve nodded. “Yes, you did. And it’s still true. I know you don’t do this anymore, but we don’t have much of a choice here.”

“I thought Captain America didn’t kill,” Bucky said, with a serious expression. Steve looked at him, eyes serious.

“Incapacitate only. No killing.”

Bucky shrugged. “No promises; they’re going to try and kill me.”

“Bucky…”

_ “Five seconds.” _

Whatever Steve was going to say was interrupted by the door opening, and the room filling with people. Steve lost track of Bucky in the chaos for a minute, before seeing him rip up a floorboard, and retrieve a backpack. Bucky then grabbed the notebook off the counter, and shoved it into the bag, before he slipped the bag onto his back and clipped the strap across his chest. 

Bucky gave Steve a look before running out of the apartment, pushing his way past the soldiers. Steve huffed out a breath, before quickly subduing the soldiers around him. He ran after Bucky, and might have caught up to him sooner if he hadn’t made sure that the soldiers Bucky was throwing down the stairwell weren’t being killed.

Because his friend wasn’t a killer, despite what the world believed.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading.
> 
> I'm thinking of doing this to a few scenes, so there might be more in the future.


End file.
